Thinking about converting from oil to gas?
As New York City moves towards cleaner, renewable energy, Con Edison is introducing new high level incentives, up to $75,000 per building, to encourage customers to convert from oil to gas. Qualifying buildings should act quickly as the program has a finite budget, which is estimated to cover about 40 qualifying buildings. Con Ed also forecasts a shortfall in existing pipeline capacity by 2023 and recommends converting now, as they cannot guarantee there will be available gas capacity in the future.
How much can you receive?
- Up to $50,000 for the Oil to Gas Incentive; $500 per residential dwelling unit, and,
- Up to $25,000 for an Energy Efficiency Equipment rebate (click here for the EE fact sheet); up to $5 per MBH (≤ 5,000 MBH).
How to Qualify?
To qualify for the above rebates, a building must:
- Consist of 5-100 residential units
- Currently be on #4 oil for the last 12 months, or if on #2 oil, must be service-adequate
- Purchase and install a new gas-fired boiler with a minimum efficiency of 82% for gas-fired steam boilers and a minimum of 87% for gas-fired hot water/condensing boilers.
Building owners who do not purchase a new high efficiency boiler will not be eligible for either rebate, but can still secure available gas capacity and proceed with a regular gas conversion.
Additional Benefits
In addition to the above rebates, qualifying buildings may also be able to receive a free gas service connection from Con Edison.
Suggested Next Steps
If your building qualifies, the following timetable is recommended:
- Early February: Buildings should assess their possible internal conversion costs (e.g., whether the chimney needs to be lined, costs for new boiler, burner, etc.);
- By mid/late February: Obtain building approval, secure funding, and hire an engineer/plumber; and
- March 1/early March: Submit a new gas service request to Con Edison to convert, apply for any available incentives, and proceed with your oil-to-gas conversion in order to be on natural gas by October 2018.
The incentive program launches March 1 and rebate incentive applications will be available at www.coned.com/gasconversions.
To read more about oil-to-gas conversions, visit RAND's Ask the Engineer article.
Nzinga McBain is a Project Engineer on RAND's MEP and Energy Teams.
